Door stop and catch for vestibule or other doors.



PATENTED MAR. 7. 1905 E. S. BUCKNAM.

DOOR STOP AND CATCH PQR VESTIBULE OR OTHER DOORS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 16, 1904.

UNITE STATES Patented March '7, 1905.

PATENT FFICE.

EZRA S. BUCKNAM, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN A.BRILL, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

DOOR STOP AND CATCH FOR VESTIBULE OR OTHER DOORS.

SPECIFICATIONforming part of Letters Patent No. 784,381, dated March 7,1905. Application filed May 16, 1904. Serial No. 208,175.

To all 1071/0711! it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EZRA S. BUOKNAM, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of the city and county of Philadelphia and State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Door Stopsand Catches for Vestibule or other Doors, of which the following is aspecification.

The object of my invention is to provide an article of this class whichwill securely and firmly hold a door which may swing against it and holdthe door open. This object is accomplished by my invention, certainembodiments of which are hereinafter described.

For a more particular description of the same, reference is to be had tothe accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, in whicl Figure 1 is aside elevation of my improved catch and its cooperating parts. Fig. 2 isa plan view of the catch and stop. end elevation of thesame. Fig. 4: isa sectional view taken on the line l 4: of Fig. 2 looking in thedirection of the arrows. Fig. is an elevation of a modified form, a partbeing shown in section.

'Ihroughout the various views similar reference characters designatesimilar parts.

\Vhile my improved stop and catch is adapted for use on all kinds ofdoors and wherever desired, it is more particularly adapted for use onthe folding doors of vestibulcd streetcars, as will more fullyhereinafter appear, and may be attached to any convenient part of thecar near the edges of the door when the door is in its open position,although it is preferable to place this stop and catch in the floor.where it will be entirely out of the way and conveniently located.

The stop and catch 1 comprises a plate 2 with screw-holes 3 and alongitudinal rectangular slot 4:, with upwardly-extending ears or lugs 5adjacent to one end of the slot. The lower surface of the plate, whichis the surface opposite the one on which the lugs are placed, isprovided with a small flange 6, which surrounds the slot 4. \Vhen inuse, this plate is countersunk into the surface or platform to which itis attached and held with its upper Fig. 3 is an face flush with thesurface or plate, as is apparent in Fig. 1, and is held in position byscrews 7. A fulcrum or pivot pin 8 unites the ears 5, and pivotedthereon is the bent lever 9. This lever is provided with flanges 10 tomake it lit snugly between the ears 5 and below the pivot 8 is bent atright angles. so as to rest in the slot A and to have a free movementtherein. Above the pivotpin 8 the lever 9 is enlarged and extendedrearwardly and is bored out to form a chamber 11, which is partiallyclosed by an internal collar 12, the outer surface of which is flared toreceive a screw-head 13 of a screw 1 1. The other end of the screw 14;is screwedinto a buffer 15, which is so shaped as to snugly lit the boreof the chamber 11 and yet be free to slide therein. A coil-spring 16rests between the collar 12 and buii'er and encircles the screw 14 andnormally holds the screwhead 13 snugly against the collar 12. Ifdesired, the tension of this spring 16 may be varied by turning thescrew 14L in the buffer 15; but as the exact adjustment of this springis not very important it is probable that such adjustment will beunnecessary. The part of the lever 9 which rests in the slot 4: ispreferably extended upwardly at the end farthest removed from thepivotpin 8 and slightly undercut at 17 to form a shoulder for a purposewhich will appcar below, and a head 18, which is spread laterally beyondthe walls of the slot 1 and slightly over the plate 2. The precise shapeof the head 18 is immaterial, but is preferably as shown.

\Vhen the catch and stop is secured to the floor or platform of a car,the platform 19 is slotted at 20, so as not to interfere with themovement of the bent lever 9, and the vestibule-doors 21 and 22 arehinged in the usual mannerthat is, one edge of the door 21 is hinged tothe door 22 and the other edge is hinged to a post or the car-body, asmay be convenientand when the doors are open a plate 23 on the door 21comes in contact with the buffer 15, thereby swinging the head 18upwardly until its undercut edge 17 engages a nose 2 L, secured to thelower edge of the door 22. The parts are so adjusted that the spring 16is placed under slight tension, so that the nose 24 and head 18 are keptin close contact by the pressure of the spring exerted through thebuffer and the plate 23.

When my improved stop and catch is placed on the platform, as abovedescribed, and the door is closed, so that the stop and catch is not inuse, the weight of the head 18 and the parts adjacent thereto issufiicient to cause the extended edges of this head to rest on the plate2 and hold the buffer 15 in the path of the plate 23 when the door isopen, so that no further mechanism or change is required to render thestop and catch operative; but when the catch and fastener is inverted bybeing placed in the ceiling or partially inverted by being placed on itsside certain modifications are essential, because if they were omittedthe weight of the head 18 and the parts adjacent thereto would be sogreat that they would be in the path of the plate 23 and not the buffer15, so that my improved device would be inoperative without the changesabove referred to. These changes would be apparent from Fig. 5, in whichthe structure is modified. The head 18 is beveled on the outer face 18and slightly extended longitudinally of the lever 9", for reasons whichwill be given below. In this modification the plate 2 is done away withand in lieu thereof the bracket 30 is substituted, which bracket isadapted to be secured to a vertical instead of a horizontal surface andis provided with upwardly and outwardly ext-ending parallel ears 31,which are in planes perpendicular to the plane of the base 32 of thebracket. The bent lever 9 is fulcrumed on a pin 8*, which unites theears 31, and the said bent lever is placed between the ears, and itsrear extremity 26 impinges against a stop 25, which stop is a lug thatdepends from a web 527, which unites the ears 31, but does not extendfar enough to interis opened in the unsual manner the head 18 is raisedand the door passes under the same and the plate 23 engages thebuffer-15, thereby causing the undercut edge 17 to engage the nose 24,when the doors 21 and 22 will be held in precisely the manner describedabove. In either case the doors may be released by simply causing thehead to disengage the nose against the action of the coil-spring, whenthe doors may be closed, as is apparent.

For convenience it is preferable to make the lever 9 hollow, as shown inFig. 4; but this is not necessary, as it may be made solid, if desired,although such a structure would involve a considerable waste ofmaterial.

Various other modifications may be made as to size and proportion ofparts and in other ways, all of which come within the scope of myinvention and which are covered by the annexed claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In a door stopand catch or similar device, a slotted plate with ears adjacent to saidslot, a bent lever fulcrumed between said ears, and having a portionextending between the walls of the slot, a buffer secured near one endof said lever, and a catch at the other end ot said lever.

2. In a door stop and catch or similar device, a slotted plate with earsprojecting near the slot, a bent lever fulcrumed between said ears, andhavinga portion resting between the walls of the slot and the catch atone end of said lever, comprising an enlarged head, a portion of whichextends beyond the slot and over the plate and a buffer at the other endof said lever.

3. In adoor stop and catch, a slotted plate, a bent lever pivoted in theslot in said plate, a spring-actuated buffer at one end of said lever,and a catch adapted. to engage a door at its other end.

Signed this 13th day of May, 1904;.

EZRA S. BUCKNAM.

Witnesses:

H. A. HEULING, TERRENCE McCUsKER.

